Combustion chamber for leers



March 1932. w. T. HoN'ss COMBUSTION ..CHAMBER FOR LEERS Filed Oct. 22,1929 AI l L ,[04 ,lo 41/14 (411 1 1 A Inceno Wt'ZZiamTHo niss yflm %4 Aorneys Patented Mar. 8, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE WILLIAM T.HONISS, OF 'WEST HABTFORD, CONR'E'I. `I(7U"II.', ASSIGNOB TO HABIFORD-EMPIBE COMPANY, OF EARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, A OOBPORATION OF DELAWABECOMBUSTION CHAMBER FOR LEEBS eApplication filed October 22, 1929. SerialNe. 401.406.

This invention relates to fireboxes for glass annealing leers of thecombustion type, and more particularly to a directional control of theair admitted to the box for the purpose of diluting the products ofcombustion.

In a leer of the type shown and described in Patent No. 1,560,481,granted Nov. 3, 1925, to Vergil Mulholland, a portion of which is moreor less diagrammatically indicated in Fig. 1 of this application, heatis applied to the ware passing through the tunnel by passing gas'es ofcombustion, which have received a preliminar cooling in the firebox,through a series of ues running side by side longitudinally of thetunnel and bneath the ware. As is well known in the a'rt, it is highlydesirablethat the temperature of the leer tunnel, and hence of the Ware,be maintained uniform throughout any given cross-section of the leer.Under certain conditions, there is a tendency toward the Creation ofhotter or cooler spots in other portions of the cross section of thetunnel. It is therefore highly desirable to provide the leer' with meanswhereby the heatingefl'ect of gases passing beneath the ware indifferent portions laterally of the tunnel may be separately controlledand varied to the end t hat the ultimate condition in the tunnel may beuniform throughout each cross section. To this end,

the leer described in the aforesaid patent is provided with suitablemeans for controlling the distribution of hot gases transversely of theflues. i

The present invention is an improvement upon and addition to the leer ofthe aforesaid patent in that it provides a control of the currents ofgases prior to their arrival at the entrance to the flues or' to theaforesaid distributin means which aid in the control of the distributionof the hot gases transversely of the flues. As in the aforesaidMulholland patent, the heating gases are generated n one chamber of afirebox, from whence the products of combustion pass, to a second ordilution chambcr in which they are mixed with atmospheric air, wherebythey are brought to a temperature such that when they: reach thebeginnings of the flues, they will be at approximately the temperatureat which the glassware is to be held 'for the release of permanentstrains. In the present invention, as in the Mulholland patentaforesaid, the products of combustion passing from the combustionchamber move over an opening in the bottom of the mixing chamber throughwhich the diluting air is delivered into the chamber, and these gases,as they mix, pass around bafles and into the mixing chamberfrom whencethey pass through suitable passages to the flues. The opening for thediluting air aforementioned communicates in the Mulholland leer, as inthe present case, with a passage running transversely of the leer toan'opening at one side of the leer to theatmosphere.

It has been found that with such an arrangement, there is a tendency attimes for the products of combustion entering the mixing chamber and thediluting-air to pass around the sides of the baflleunequally creating acurrent which tends to sweep across the ends of flues, and whichtherefore pre- -sents the gases to the flues and distributing means inan improper manner. This undesrable result s caused in part by themanner in which the burner is pointed and even very slightirregularities in the Construction of the combustion chamber and of thebaflies. Even in a leer provided with the distributing means as shown inPatent 1,560,481, there are occasions upon which the control is upset bythe presence of these unequal Currents.

An object of my invention, therefore, is to provide means whereby I mayoptionally control the direction in which the relatively cool air entersthe mixing chamber and thus con-' trol the direction of curents of gasesaround the battle to the end that desired temperatures conditions in theflues may be maintained.

In the drawings,

'Fig. 1 is a vertical longitudinal section of the forward 01' receivingend of a leer, embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view illustrating the internalconstruction of the heating apparatus 'for a leer, and showing the 10-cation of the vanes used for controlling a, direction of the airentering the mixing chamber, the section being taken on the line 2-2 ofFig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse sectional View taken'on the lines 3-3 ofFig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is an isometric View in section of the flues for heating theleer, taken on the lines H of Fig. 1.

The present invention is an improvemen on the leer disclosed in theabove mentioned Patent 1,560,481, and comprises, asshown in Fig. 1, atunnel A, a plurality of heating flues thereunder, generally designatedas C, and a firebox B which communicates With the heating flues.

The leer is heated by a burner 5 which projects a flame through anopening 6 into a combustion chamber 7 provided in the firebox B; Theflame from the burner, upon entering the chamber 7, first impinges uponan angularly disposed bafiie 8 which deflects it away from thevopenin 9.In the combustion chamber 7, the prodhcts of combustion pass through theopening 9 provided in a wall 10 into a mixing chamber 11, 'where they'first encounter a baflle 12, which deflects them rearwardly anddistributes them in a lateral direction throughout the chamber( A port13 establishes communication between the outer atmosphere and thechamber 11, directly to the rear of the baflie 12, and supplies air tothe products of combustion as they enter the chamber 11. The amount ofair passing through the port 13 may be controlled by a damper 14provided on the side of the firebox.

` The combustion chamber 7 and'the mixing chamber 11 are both providedwith inner linings 15 of refractor material and with outer linngs 16 ofheat nsulating brick which is surrounded by a powdered insulatingmaterial 17, such as kieselguhr. or the like. This structure iscontained within a metallic casing 18. From the m'ixing chamber 11 theproducts'of combustion pass through spaced openings 19, over halfbricks'20 and between whole bricks 21, upwardly through a vertical flue22 into the forw ard'end of the heating flues C. The heated gases aredrawn through the flues C at sub-atmospheric pressure by a common draftproducing device (not shown) mounted adjacent the rear end of the'leerA. If desired, the leer may be provided with controlled openings intothe vertical flue 22 whereby to distribute the gases to the severalflues as shown in the aforesaid patent.

A pair of vanes 23 are pivotally mounted by their upper edges to thecorners of the wall at which an air flue 2& connect-s vertica lly withthe air port 13. The lower ends of said vanes 23 are pivotally connectedto a rod 25 in-such a manner that their surfaces are parallel. Mountedon the framework of the firebox adjacent the end of the flue 24 is abracket 26 through which the rod 25 is mounted, and which is providedwith a thumb screw 27 which Contacts with the rod 25 and holds it in anypredetermined position so as to deflect the air in a preferreddirection.

In operation, the products of combustion, created in the combustionchamber 7, pass through the opening 9 into the mixing chamber 11.. Asthese products of combustion enter the mixing chamber, they pass over aport 13 through which atmospheric air is admitted in regulablequantities to cool them.

Due to perhaps very slight inaccuracies in the arrangement of the burner5 in relation to the opening 6, slight errors in the construction' ofthe chambers 7 to 11, the passage 9, or the baflie 12, or to draftsoutside of the leer which afi'ect the strength of the current of air.entering through the port 13, the products of combustion may have atendency to flow more readily around one end of the bafiie 12 thanaround the other, and they thus cause the flues on the side of the .leertoward which they flow more strongly to be heated to a higher Thecontrol is regulated until the temperature of the flues have reached asubstantially uniform condition.

It is to be understood that the hereinbefore described embodiment of myinvention is for illustrative purposes only and various changes may bemade therein without depa'rting from the spirit and scope of myinvention as embodied in the following claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A firebox for a glassware annealing leer for supplying heated gasesto a longitudinally extending flue associated with the leer, comprisinga combustion chamber, a chamber for miXing the products of combustionwith air of approximately atmospheric temperature, a passage foradmitting air into said mixing chamber, and means for regulating thedirection of the admission of such air to the mixing chamber.

2. A firebox for a glassware annealing leer for supplying heated gasesto a longitudinallv extending flue associated with the leer, whichcomprises, in combination, a combustion chamber, a mixing chamber, aflue for admitting air at approximately atmospheric temperature to themixing chamber, and vanes associated with said flue for controlling thedirection of said air as it enters the mixing chamber. I

3. A-firebox for a glassware annealin leer for supplying heated gases toa longitu 'nally extending flue associated with the lee', i

comprising a combustion chamber, a chamber for mixing the products ofcombustion with air of atmospheric temperature, a baflle in sad mixingchamber, means for regulating the amount of air admitted to the mixingchamber, and means for directing the air entering the mixing chambertoward preferred end of the baflie.

4. A firebox for a glasswae annealing leer for supplying heated gases toa longitudinally extending flue associated with the leer, comprising acombustion chamber, a chamber for mixing the products of combustion withair of approximat'ely atmospheric temperature, fixed means for directingsaid mixture of products of combustion and' air of atmospherictemperature through said mixing chamber, and adjustab le means foreontrolling the direction of movement of said air at atmos herictemperature as it enters the mixing c amber.

5. A firebox f'r' a glassware annealing leer for supplying heated gasesto a longitudinally extending flue associated with the leer, v

comprising a combustion chamber, means for .generating products ofcombustion therein,-

a mxng` chamber communicating with said combustion chamber, a passagecommunicating between said mixing chamber' and the outer atmosphere forthe admission of atmospheric air to the mixing chamber to dilute and"cool the products of combustion therein, and means for variablydete'mining the transverse distribution of the draft through said mixingchamber by controlling the direction at which the air enters the mixingchamber, whereby to determine the transverse temperature conditions inthe g ware annealing leer.

6. A firebox for a glassware annealng leer i for supplying heated gasesto a pluralt of independent longitud'nally extending nes associated withthe leer, comprising a. combustion chamber, means for generatm productsof combustion therein, amixin c amber communicating with said combuston'chamber, a passage communicating between said mixng chamber andtheouter `atmosphere for the admission of atmospheric air to'the.

- mixing chamber to dilute and cool the products of,combustion'therein', baflle means in said mixing chamber located betweenthe` oint of communication of the mixing chamr with said Eaage and theexit passageeof the mixing c amber and forming with the walls of themixing chamber a par of transversely spaced passages for the heatedgases, and means for variably determining the pro portion of the heated'gases passing through each of said spaeed passages.

'i "Signed .at. Hartfo-d, Conneeticut, this 17th day of October, 1929.

WILLIAM T.

